Louise Sallé, edited by Solène Leroux 06:16, May 04, 2022

To reduce its dependence on Russian gas, the European Union is turning to American liquefied natural gas (LNG).

But the extraction techniques, and the process to make this gas liquid, in order to transport it by ship, are more polluting than the gas transported from Russia via gas pipelines.

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The extraction and production of liquefied natural gas, LNG, from the United States, emits twice as much CO2 as Russian gas, which is transported to Europe by gas pipelines.

The reason ?

The process of making this gas liquid, and transporting it by boat, is very energy-intensive, explains Thomas Pellerin-Carlin, specialist in European energy and climate policies at the Jacques Delors Institute.

"The temperature that must be reached for liquefied natural gas reaches less than 160 degrees Celsius, so you have to consume a lot of energy to get there," says this expert.

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"The second problematic point is that liquefied natural gas tends to leak out," he continues.

"These leaks are methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas that heats the atmosphere extremely quickly, and accelerates global warming."

Methane leaks also important during the extraction of shale gas

In addition, liquefied natural gas is mainly derived from shale gas, obtained by fracturing rocks.

And this method of extraction is very polluting, continues Thomas Pellerin-Carlin.

"It's a technology that will create a lot of microcracks, and cause more methane leaks than with conventional methods," he explains at the microphone of Europe 1. "This methane will rise to the surface of the Earth, it will fail to be captured by the company and will escape into the atmosphere to warm the climate."

Europe has nevertheless imposed its conditions: the member countries will only accept this gas if the Americans undertake to reduce their leaks.

But the effects of these policies, which take a long time to implement throughout the industrial process, will only be visible in the long term.